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"Okay, here's what we'll do." Willow started to give instructions much to everyone's surprise, "Oz and I will drive around looking for them, Xander and Cordelia you should stay here in case she comes back. Giles, you go back to the library and research for a spell in order to bind John or whatever the demon is calling himself now. We will all meet back here in one hour. Xander while you're waiting here you should try calling over to Buffy's house, but don't worry Mrs. Summers if you can help it. On second thought, Giles, maybe you should call."

"What are you trying to say, Wil? I'm just too big of a idiot to handle saying 'Hey Mrs. Summers, is Buffy home?' without adding that I was just wondering if her daughter still had her head!" Xander asked sarcastically.

Before Willow responded Cordelia added, "If the shoe fits."

"If you keep it up I'll throw my shoe at you. And for another thing if you weren't so..."

"Alexander Harris, if you keep this behavior up I will send a note home to your mother. Now, act your age and focus on the problem at hand." Giles reprimanded.

Xander blushed a little and nodded in agreement obviously embarrassed for Giles catching him at his usual antics. Oz and Willow started to search the streets for Buffy after dropping off Giles at the library. They only had one hour and there were soo many places to check, like the graveyard, the warehouse, the mansion and all the usual haunts. Oz could tell Willow was starting to panic so he tried to cheer her up, "Hey, Wil, don't worry...cause, well...we always win. Buffy's strong. Remember that time she busted up that Judge guy. She is the slayer and well...I'm sure she'll be fine."

"It's all my fault Oz. I told her to ask him out. How could I be so stupid?"

"Stupid. You. Never. Come on, quit being so hard on yourself. You told me yourself that he was like studly and all so I'm sure Buffy would have asked him out anyway."

Willow smiled at Oz and thought to herself that she must be the luckiest girl in the world for having someone as cool as Oz for a boyfriend. Then Willow's thoughts coasted back to Xander and Cordelia. Something was up with them. They were fighting again and ever since the attack at the library a while back they had been all lovey dovey.

"Oz, did you notice anything strange about Cordelia and Xander?"

"Strange how? If you look under strange in the dictionary they have a big ol' picture of those two."

"I mean like have you noticed them fighting a lot lately?"

"No more than usual. Why?" asked Oz nervously.

Ever since the night at the hospital when he overheard Xander tell Willow that he loved her he had a strange feeling that he was going to lose Willow. The only consolation he had was that Xander was a fool and he was still lusting after Cordelia.

"Umm...no reason. Do you see anything?" said Willow changing the subject.

Oz was now extra worried. He was worried about Buffy's safety and losing his girlfriend to someone who would never appreciate her. Man, this night was going to last forever, he thought to himself. He needed to talk to Xander about that night at the hospital and soon.

Back at the library Giles' frustration mounted when there was no mention of the spell at all in the journal. He threw the book down hard on the library table and once again it popped open to a page. This time it opened up to a page with a sketch of the sorcerer Miles Keen. Giles exclaimed, "That's it!"

Giles realized that Miles was the key to the spell. Giles started rummaging through all of the Watcher journals and was surprised to find that Miles was mentioned in more than one of them. But what did it mean? He had outlived Watchers and slayers. That was it, he was immortal! Giles smiled to himself. "By george, you've done it old man." he said under his breath. Now with his thoughts flying he realized that he needed Willow to fire up that blasted machine and find out where to find the sorcerer who could help save Buffy. It would take too long to find Willow and get her back to the library. Giles knew what he had to do, so he sat down at the computer reached over and turned it on. He waited for the familiar screen and then clicked on the icon Willow had renamed The Net. Nothing happened. Blast. What am I doing wrong? Giles pondered and in anger he clicked the mouse a few more times and the program opened. Thank you! Now...time to get my wits about me and do some research, Giles thought.

Back at The Bronze Xander was wearing a hole in the floor from pacing back and forth. How could this have happened? Xander asked himself. Xander's heart leapt each time someone came through the doors and fell each time it wasn't Buffy. He should have told her how he felt. Why was he such a fool? Why didn't he just act like a man and tell Buffy how he felt? Rejection, that's why, he answered his own question.

"Pacing isn't going to bring back your precious Buffy." Cordelia snapped at the obviously worried Xander.

"Oh, and I guess your snippy comments will?"

Before Cordy could answer in came Oz and Willow looking very disappointed and Willow said, "Did she come back here? Please tell me she came back here!"

Xander replied, "Sorry Wil, we haven't seen her. So I'm guessing no luck on the street search either?"

"Good guess. Nothing. We looked in every single one of the usual hangouts and nothing." replied Oz.

"That's it!" exclaimed Willow.

"What's it?", asked Cordelia.

"We looked in all the usual spots. But this isn't your everyday run-of-the-mill vampire. He's a demon." Willow responded.

"So what does this mean. He takes her somewhere romantic to watch the sun come up and then it's off to Denny's for the grand slam breakfast special and then off with her head." snorted Xander.

"No, I think what Willow is trying to say is that we have been hunting like we usually do in order to stop a big bad vampire, but this guy's like not a vampire. He's a demon and we should hunt accordingly. Right?" Oz finished by turning his attention back to Willow.

Before Willow could get a word out Giles interjected, "Quite right, Oz. You and Willow are right on track."

"Hey Gman. Did you learn anything useful at the library?" asked Xander.

Giles nodded back, cleared his throat and continued, "Now we must get to a small town on the outskirts of Sunnydale called O'Keefe and talk to a sorcerer named Miles Keen. This is the sorcerer who helped bind the demon the last time."

"Giles, how do you know all of this?" asked Willow.

"Umm...from the Internet." Giles responded sheepishly.

"The Internet, but Giles you don't even know how to turn on a computer." replied a stunned Willow only to realize that wasn't the kindest remark so she added, "I mean you've never showed any interest in technology before."

"And she pulls her tookus out of the fire!" Xander interjects.

Giles ignored Xander and continued, "I realized that the sorcerer was mentioned in three or four of the Watcher journals. So, I decided to fire up the computer..."

Willow corrected Giles, "Boot up."

"Ah...yes...well whatever the terminology, it was turned on and I went on to the internet and discovered that Miles Keen was not only alive, but living just on the outskirts of Sunnydale. I used one of your bookmarks, I think that's what the bloody thing is called and got into a listing which gave me the current address for our sorcerer."

"Way to go Gman. Welcome to the 90's and not a minute too soon." joked Xander.

"Well, yes...I was...what I mean to say is that sometimes technology isn't all bad. Anyway...we need to get to Miles and find out how to bind the demon again." muttered a proud Giles.

"We could all pile in my van." offered Oz.

"Yeah. That's a really good idea because there is lots of room in the back for everyone." added Willow.

Cordelia, Xander and Giles all turned and gave the how do you know? look to Willow who in turned blushed and added, "Oz's whole band fits in there with all their equipment and stuff too. Anyway...he's my boyfriend and what I know is none of your business."

"Ah..yes...let's be on our way then." Giles changed the subject not wanting to embarrass poor Willow anymore than she already was.

Meantime Buffy and her date had been walking for hours. Buffy realized how late, well actually early it was getting to be and started to worry about her mother's reaction, but then took another look at John and decided it was worth getting grounded for. Mmmmm...this is nice, thought Buffy. Not having to worry about getting your date home before daylight and not worrying if any of his old friends were going to pop up and turn you into a late night snack. Then it hit her. A sad feeling overcame her. She felt guilty for putting down Angel even if it was true. It wasn't his fault that he was a vampire. The saddness of missing him washed over her and must have awakened her wits because she suddenly realized that John had never once said anything about himself and he agreed with everything she said and well...what were they doing walking way out in the middle of nowhere?! She began to become suspicious of her studly date. She decided to break the silence, "So...John, let's talk about you. Tell me a little about yourself? Where are you from originally? Ever been arrested? What kind of hobbies do you have?"

John replied with a nervous laugh, "And will you be requiring a full credit report? I assure you my credit is good." he added the last part more confidently.

Buffy could feel John's mood changing and she wasn't sure why yet but she had a major case of the wiggins.

Oz parked the van in front of the pillar with the address that Giles had given him. The pillar belonged to a huge scary looking old house straight out of a horror movie. Oz swallowed hard and replied, "We've arrived. AlthoughI'm not sure WE want to be HERE."

Xander leaned over Oz's shoulder to take a glance at their destination. He looked a bit taken aback and said, "Cordy, why don't you hop off your broom and go make nice with the boogedy boogedy man?"

"Nice Xander. Real nice." Cordelia snapped and then added, "Of course we won't see you muster up the courage to go up there because we all know that you are a first rate chicken."

"First rate, eh? That's the nicest thing you've said to me all night." was Xander's snappy comeback.

"Well...it's time that we all stop chattering and knocked at the door." said Giles and with that he swung open the side door to the van.

They all walked up the long winding driveway and approached the door without a word to each other. Once at the door, Giles turned looked apprehensively at the teens and then turned back and lifted the door knocker and well, knocked. The sound echoed throughout the house and there appeared to be no answer.

"Now what?" Cordelia asked breaking the silence after a couple of minutes had passed.

"Well...in normal circumstances I would never suggest this, but this is an emergency and all so I think it may be acceptable. We need to break in some how." responded Giles.

"That won't be necessary." said a voice from behind them.

Startled the gang finally turned to see a white haired old gentleman standing on the steps behind them with a large walking stick. The old man continued to speak, "I'm guessing you there with the glasses that you are a Watcher and which one of these young ladies is your slayer?" he turned his attention towards Willow and Cordelia.

"Yes...I am a Watcher, but how...how did you know?" asked Giles.

"Because no one in their right mind would voluntarily come up to visit me. You've seen this place from the road, it's spooky. I have only had one other visitor and he was also a Watcher. Now which one is the slayer. Is it you my pet?" he leaned over so he was face to face with Willow.

"Nope. It's not me. Not me at all. In fact it could never be me and..." rambled on a very scared Willow.

"Um..no...Willow is not the slayer and neither is Cordelia. It is Buffy who is the chosen one." interjected Giles.

"So...Watcher...where is the one that you call Buffy?"

"Humm...ah...now that is part of the reason for our visit..." and Giles was off and running. He explained to Miles about the strange nonoccurrences and how they thought the demon had been freed again and how now Buffywas missing.

"Missing. You've lost your slayer? What kind of watcher are you?" asked the strange little man.

"I'll have you know that I am a..."

"Settle down Watcher. I was just trying to get a rise out of you. Now let's go inside and see what we can do to save this slayer of yours."

The gang parted a way to let Miles lead them into his home. The teens and Giles were awed by the surroundings. Live bats hung from the ceiling and there was about an inch of dust on everything. Once they had taken it all in Oz leaned over and whispered to Willow, "Well this is fairly freaksome."

"Young man. You are a wolf, how dare you comment on my lifestyle choices." the old man laughed.

"Hey, how did you know that he was a wolf?" asked a suddenly unshy Xander.

Miles turned to Xander and replied, "Some of my secrets will stay my secrets and some of yours will be found out."

"Okay don't tell me." was all Xander could say.

"Now we must go into the den and search through some of my old diaries to find the proper spell to bind this demon." he said while walking towards a dark room.

"Yeah! Party on. I don't even want to imagine some of the stuff this old geezer has written about." was Cordelia's response.

"Don't take your anger out on me beautiful girl. You must use your pain to do good. Channel your negative energy into helping the other girl, the slayer." said Miles.

Cordelia lowered her head in shame at being found out as everyone else looked at her with new perspective. It was at that moment that Xander realize that he had hurt her and for that he was regretful. He also realized that he had done the right thing breaking up with her because if he didn't really have feelings for her then he shouldn't be going out with her. Cordelia stole a glance at Xander and was shocked to see him looking at her. He gave her a sad smile and then looked away. She knew for sure then that he was no longer interested in her. She had always feared it, but now she knew. Oh well, I can do better, she told herself and she was almost convinced.

The gang entered the den that was huge. It was larger than the Sunnydale library and it was lit only by candles. It was enchanting and eery, but one step in the doorway and Giles felt at home. He always felt better when he was surrounded by books. He was the first to speak, "Let's start shall we. Now, Miles is there anything in particular we should look for other than the obvious - the spell."

"Yes...it is a burgundy volume with gold print." he stated.

Xander looked up and saw that all of the books were burgundy with gold print, "Yeah...that's helpful."

And then Miles added with a devilish smile and a wink, "...and don't believe everything you read."

They all laughed and started hunting for the book. Time dragged on for all of them, but they all knew that they must not give up because the only thing that could save Buffy was in the volumes. In between books, Miles and Giles discussed the lack of originality that John had taken in finding a new face to pose with and then it hit Giles like a bolt of lightning, "He wanted us to know it was him. He will bring Buffy to us. There is no need to hunt him. Ah...I should have figured this out earlier. It would be more of a challenge for him if he knew that we knew. We must continue searching for the binding spell, but the others should prepare for his arrival in case we are not yet prepared."

"You are a good Watcher, Rupert Giles." stated Miles with admiration.

The others broke off into two teams to prepare the house for the battle ahead. Oz and Xander went upstairs to board up the windows while the girls were in charge of finding anything that they could use as a weapon if need be. Cordelia had quietly requested to be paired with someone other than Xander and Willow knew that Oz was less than pleased at the thought of being sent off with Queen Cordelia so Willow volunteered. Willow also thought this would be a great opportunity to find out what had happened between Cordelia and Xander. She was more than a little curious.

Once upstairs the guys got to work nailing up any spare boards they could find to the windows to block entry. During a break Oz turned to Xander and said softly, "You love her, don't you?"

"Who?" replied Xander.

"You know who I mean. You love her don't you! Just admit it." demanded Oz.

Xander a little surprised that Oz cared about his feelings for Buffy so much finally gave in and said, "Yeah, I love her. What's it to you?"

"Then you have to tell her man, 'cause she deserves to have all the facts so she can make an educated decision and not just go with the safe choice." responded Oz who then got up and started working again without another word.

Maybe he's right, thought Xander. Maybe when we find Buffy I should just tell her and get it over with. What's the worst that can happen? She laughs in my face and treats me like a girlfriend, and that would be different from any other day how?, he asked himself. Oh well...none of this will make any difference if we aren't prepared once they get here, was his last thought on the matter before he began nailing more boards in place.

Downstairs the girls were gathering fireplace tools and anything else that could cause bodily harm. After dragging everything into a pile in the center of the floor Willow finally turned to Cordelia and said, "Are you okay? I know were not like friends or anything, but if you need to talk I'm here."

"Thanks Willow for understanding why we can't be friends, because it's hard to tell people directly to their face that they aren't cool and never will be." Willow grimmaced at Cordelia's lack of tact, but then ignored it when Cordelia continued to speak, "See...I never thought going out with Xander was really all that bad. Yeah, I know he made me a social outcast and stuff, but when I was alone with him it seemed less important for me to be popular. I mean, I gave up becoming Homecoming Queen just to date him and that's a big sacrifice, you know? Well, of course you don't know because you've never been even close to being Homecoming Queen, but imagine if Oz broke up with you how you'd feel."

Willow choose to ignore the insults and replied, "You mean Xander broke it off with you? What happened? I mean...that is if you want to talk about it."

"That little troll broke up with me because he's in love with little miss slayer. Well...if that's what he wants then he can have it because I'm sick of not being invited to A list parties just because he's a good kisser. Anyway...is it getting light out?"

She was right. Willow ran to the library to ask the sorcerer and the librarian what they should do next. Miles was quick to answer, "My pet, the answer is getting closer. I can feel it. The demon is almost finished his journey and your Buffy is with him.

Buffy was becoming tired from all the walking and starting to get more in tuned with her spider sense. She knew something was up and that John wasn't just some new kid, but what he was she could not figure it out. Her thoughts were put on hold when suddenly John stopped walking and peered up at a big house up on a hill and turned to her to say, "We have arrived."

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